ALLENS Minties get a makeover

Most things get better with age ...and Allen’s Minties is no exception.

The iconic Australian lolly which celebrates its 90th birthday this year is about to get a whole lot chewier.

After nine decades with very little change to its taste or texture, Nestlé Australia announced today that its Allen’s Minties will now be chewier as a result of consumer feedback.
Lisa May, Head of Marketing for Confectionery and Snacks, said it was a difficult decision to change a product that had been around for so long with a loyal consumer base.

“Very few things remain the same for 90 years so we really had to be careful the way we changed the texture of Allen’s Minties – it’s such a well loved Australian lolly – but consumers asked us to make it chewier whilst still retaining the hardness, and we did,” she said.

Minties was first developed in 1922 by Australian, James Stedman, and produced at the former Sweetacres factory in Rosebery in Sydney’s east.

The mint lolly survived The Great Depression and World War II and is one of the oldest confectionery products still available, along with Allen’s Jaffas, Freckles and Fantales, selling over 3.5 million packs a year. It is also the subject of one of the oldest advertising slogans: “It’s moments like these you need Minties.”

“We needed to produce a Mintie that still had a challenging chew without being too hard or soft so in consumer testing we actually produced three versions –a hard Mintie, a slightly less hard one and another less hard one that was chewier,” Lisa said.

“The chewier Mintie was the standout winner, so we listened to our consumers and changed the way we made Allen’s Minties without changing the taste.”
The new, chewier Allen’s Minties, are now available in supermarkets, petrol stations and convenience stores around Australia.